January 24, 2010

With my family engaged in the the movie, The Basilisk King, a made for the Syfy channel production, it appeared to be the perfect opportunity to finish this post. I've been hunting and pecking my way through it for the last two weeks, as my typing skills have been put on the sidelines. I had a close encounter with the tip of one of my Shun knives, while I was chopping vegetables. The tip of my finger took the brunt of this little accident and thankfully, it's still intact.

Food production has continued around my house, due to these little doo-hickies called first aid or finger cots. In other words, it's a condom for your finger. It seals off your finger, with it's lovely bandage and antibiotic ointment, from the food you're preparing. They are perfect for ensuring food safety. I picked up a box of 20 in assorted sizes from Meijer for about $1.50. So, outfitting your first aid kit with these won't dent the budget.

Most people keep a small selection of bandages and antibiotic ointment in their medicine cabinets. If you do a lot of cooking you should consider adding a few things to your home first aid supplies. Pick up some finger cots, finger tip and knuckle bandages, iodine swabs, burn ointment and some burn free pain relieving gel. If you can find them, a few Medi-Burn bandages would be good to have on hand. Since most kitchen accidents tend to be cuts or burns, adding some of these things to your home kit should keep you covered.

Once you've had that accident or you just want a wonderfully hearty loaf of bread to eat with your soup, try out this roasted potato and basil loaf. I thought it was best when it was warm, but my daughter preferred it cold with a swath of peanut butter covering it.

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F/220 C. Place the cut potatoes in a cookie pan or a rectangular baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and using a spoon or your hands coat the potatoes with the oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 30 minutes, remove from the oven and stir the potatoes. Place back in the oven and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Allow to cool.

2. Cut the potato wedges into bite size pieces. Preheat a skillet on the stove top. Drizzle in a small amount of olive oil, then allow the oil to warm. Put the garlic into the skillet and allow it to cook for about 30 seconds or until blonde in color. Sweep the garlic around so it doesn't burn. Add the potatoes and basil to the pan. Continue to sweep around for a about a minute so the flavors are incorporated. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Directions for Poolish

Pour all the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl and blend together. Then add the water and agave syrup and stir until incorporated. Set the bowl in a warm location to rise for 40 minutes.

Directions for Final Dough

1. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and stir together. Add the poolish, water and agave syrup and blend together until a soft ball forms. If the dough is still too soft, add arrowroot starch by the tablespoon (1 Tb/15 ml) until the dough firms up.

2. Place the dough in the center of a sheet of parchment paper that has been sprinkled with arrowroot starch. Gently shape the dough into a ball. Take a sharp knife and cut a double swirl shape in the center of the dough. Slide the parchment paper onto a cookie sheet and place in a warm location to rise for 1 1/2 hours.

3. Place an oven proof bowl filled with water on the bottom shelf of the oven. Then place a baking stone on the top shelf. Preheat the oven to 435 degrees F/223 degrees C. Place the loaf in the oven and spray water over the oven box and the top of the loaf. Bake the loaf for 30 to 40 minutes. Prop the oven door open and continue to cook the bread for another 10 minutes. Remove the loaf and allow it to cool before serving.

What's Going On?

I was a very lucky woman and received a copy of the Culinary Institute of America's Baking & Pastry book along with their DVD's from my family for my birthday. After watching all the DVDs, I decided to work my way through the CIA's Baking and Pastry book - of course making it gluten free. There were so many skills that I wanted to develop and work on. I hope you will be interested in sharing my journey with me.

3 comments:

Lucky me to have found your blog! I had to laugh out loud right off. I am all too am familiar with the strange draw of syfy's Basilisk productions on members of my family, though I can't seem to understand it myself! ;)

What a challenge you've undertaken! I shall be checking in! I was lucky to have opportunity take some classes from CIA chef in charge of Gluten Free baking, Richard Coppedge last year... but you've inspired me to revisit what was taught and try and learn more from him/them!

I'm glad your finger is ok; I had a run-in like that a couple of months ago. My husband always gets nervous when I'm chopping things in a hurry. I've never heard of the finger cots, so I'll look for them.